Yuki Tsunoda and Helmut Marko spoke after Lawson was promoted (Image: Getty)
s decision to replace the struggling with rather than sparked widespread debate in the F1 community, but according to , ’s perennially overlooked driver took the news in a ‘relaxed’ manner.
Tsunoda has been a consistent force since departed AlphaTauri for Alpine at the start of the 2023 season. The Japanese racer destroyed Nyck de Vries and did the same to during their two stints as team-mates.
With Ricciardo ousted after the Singapore Grand Prix in September, Lawson was brought into the set-up, creating a shootout for the second seat, should ’s team opt to remove Perez at the end of the 2024 campaign.
Despite beating Lawson 6-0 in qualifying and showing impressive pace and consistency throughout the 2024 season, Tsunoda was overlooked. It was the New Zealander who got the promotion, setting the man from Kanagawa up for a fifth campaign with the sister team.
“In principle, it was a luxury problem, both would have deserved the promotion,” Marko told F1-Insider. “But Lawson may have more room for improvement in the future. It was his mental strength in particular that tipped the scales in the end.”
He continued: “He’s in Japan at the moment, and I spoke to him on the phone. He was relatively relaxed about the news. I told him that he should continue to step on the gas with the Racing Bulls, and then we’ll see. He reacted positively.”
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Liam Lawson was promoted ahead of Yuki Tsunoda (Image: Getty)
Tsunoda now finds his career at a crossroads. With his chances of an internal promotion slim, the 24-year-old could look outside of the family for his next career move. While Haas’ interest has likely passed after signing Oliver Bearman and , his Honda links could create an opening at Aston Martin in the future.
“We’re acutely aware that if we’re not able to provide an opportunity for Yuki – being, in all honesty, this year, does it make sense [to keep him]?” Horner admitted after news of Lawson’s promotion broke.
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“You can’t have a driver in the support team for five years. You can’t always be the bridesmaid. You’ve either got to let them go at that point or look at something different.” That said, Horner isn’t ruling out an eventual promotion. “I think he’s very determined,” he continued. “He knows that things change very quickly.
“Who would’ve thought nine months ago we’d be sitting here talking about Liam Lawson being our driver for 2025? Things change quickly in this industry and he’s aware of that and knows that he needs to be the one demonstrating that he’s the one knocking on the door.”